HP Deskjet 6122 Color Inkjet Printer review
Well-built, solid and compact, reliable, ideal for home and small business printing.
The HP Deskjet 6122 Color Inkjet Printer is the ideal bargain for all those professionals or small business customers who need a
simple but very reliable printer. If you don't have any specific needs, this printer is a good choice. It is
a little noisy, especially before and after printing. However, printing itself is very quiet, with decent speed
and very good quality for its price.
For less than 180.00$ the HP Deskjet 6122 provides several professional features business customers really appreciate,
such as dramatic ink-saving fast draft printing, duplex printing, and options such as a second 250 sheet paper tray,
as well as the ability to add an external Jet Direct Ethernet NIC. To even the most economic laser printer, all this
combine to make the HP Deskjet 6122 a very attractive alternative. Another business-class level feature is the
standard 150 sheet paper tray, instead of the 100 sheet tray found on most Inkjet printers at this price point.
The Ethernet based Jet Direct network cards that can be added to the printer include:
- HP Jetdirect 175x External USB Ethernet Print Server J6035A
- HP Jetdirect wp380 server J6061A
- HP Jetdirect 170x External Parallel Ethernet Print Server J3258BHP
- Wireless Print Server wp110 (802.11b) J6062A
Both business and home customers appreciate how printed out photographs look, as well as the outstanding - actually
laser printer quality - black printing, even on standard 20lbs laser paper, though the best results can be acheved
with 22-24lbs inkjet paper. Also the fact that there are only three buttons on the panel, and that they are easy to
see and understand, is something they apreciate very much.
The automatic double-sided printing is provided by a standard duplex module, shipped with the printer, that must be
installed during the initial printer setup and configuration. Once installed, the option is selectable via the
printer software. It is very useful as it allowes no manual paper re-feed for double-sided printing and, when
combined with draft quality printing and inexpensive paper, it can also make printing very cost-effective. However,
when printing on two sides, the print choices provide for a "binding margin" that can be set either at the long or
the short side of the paper but cannot be disabled. As a result you will end up with a forced binding margin even for
those prints that won’t need any binding.
To provide even further ink saving, the HP Preview is also included. This is an awesome utility that can really save
business-class clients gallons of ink and tons of paper each year.
Installation:
A typical installation of of hardware and software components for the HP Deskjet 6122 takes less then ten minutes,
with the easy to read step-by-step installation sheet provided, both for MAC and PC. The most difficult part seems
to be the installation of the duplex unit which comes unattached, though there are clear instructions on the
installation sheet.
The HP Deskjet 6122 comes with two print cartridges, one black, one tri-color. They are easy to install as, again,
it is well explained on the installation sheet. The printer must be connected to the USB and powered on in order
for the software and drivers to be installed.
For standard connectivity IEEE 1284-Centronics parallel compatible and version 2.0 Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports
are provided. Unfortunatelly there is no printer cables included in the box with the printer.
Some data sheet specifications:
Black Print Speed:
- Up to 20 pages a minute (Draft Mode)
- Up to 5 pages a minute (Normal Mode)
- Up to 1.4 pages a minute (Best Quality Mode)
Color Print Speed (mixed text and graphics):
- Up to 13 Pages a minute (Draft Mode)
- Up to 5 Pages a minute (Normal Mode)
- Up to 1.2 Pages a minute (Best Quality Mode)
Color Print Speed (full color page):
- Up to 3.1 Pages a minute (Draft Mode)
- Up to 0.9 Pages a minute (Normal Mode)
- Up to 0.3 Pages a minute (Best Quality Mode)
Resolution: 4800 x 1200
Duty Cycle: 5,000 pages per month
Input capacity: max. 150 sheets or 22 envelopes
Duplexing: Automatic module included
Media Sizes: 3 x 5 in to 8.5 x 14 in
Media Types: Paper, envelopes, transparencies, labels, cards (index and greeting), HP premium photo and
brochure paper, iron-on transfers
Recommended media weight: 16 to 24 lb
Memory, standard and maximum: 8 mb
Dimensions: 17.9 x 17.3 x 7.3 in
Weight: 14.8 lb
Warranty: 1 year standard
The HP Deskjet 6122 printer can be attached to a Mac or PC.
